The Lorcana Sapphire/Steel deck has been one of the most popular deck archetypes since the game came out. Today, it is stronger than ever, with a powerful offensive/defensive combination that keeps your characters safe while quickly ramping up Ink, dishing out damage, and rapidly acquiring lore.

Below, we’re going to be taking a look at a deck list that finished in the top eight at a massive Lorcana tournament which took place as a side event at the Toronto DLC. This is my favorite version of Sapphire/Steel in a while – one that leverages one of my favorite cards in the game: Belle – Strange But Special

Let’s dig into the strategy behind this top tier Lorcana deck and see what makes it tick.

6th at Sunday DLC Toronto Side Event by RobS18

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2 Lucky Dime
2 Rise of the Titans
3 Gramma Tala - Keeper of Ancient Stories
4 Tamatoa - So Shiny!
3 Ba-boom!
1 Hades - Infernal Schemer
2 And Then Along Came Zeus
3 Mr. Smee - Bumbling Mate
4 One Jump Ahead
1 Let It Go
3 A Whole New World
4 Fishbone Quill
3 Grab Your Sword
4 Pawpsicle
1 Avalanche
4 Hiram Flaversham - Toymaker
4 Tinker Bell - Giant Fairy
2 Aladdin - Brave Rescuer
2 Ariel - Treasure Collector
4 Fortisphere
4 Cogsworth - Grandfather Clock

Deck price: $297

Disney Lorcana Sapphire/Steel Deck turn-by-turn

Steel has incredible draw support, as well as the ability to quickly spread damage across the board. Couple that with Sapphire’s uncanny ability to quickly ramp by getting Ink into the inkwell and you have a top tier deck.

I’ve been playing Sapphire/Steel since The First Chapter – it was one of the first decks I picked up and back then it was all about shifting Aurora into Dreaming Guardian and spamming songs. Today, it’s a bit more complicated. But don’t worry – we’ll dive into how to play this powerful deck archetype in the guide below.

Turn one draw support

This deck ramps quickly, meaning you won’t need to worry too much about an early game set up as you will have many more options available to you via extra Ink in short order.

To that end, you have eight copies of what is essentially the same card: Pawpsicle and Fortisphere. While they have different abilities, they are both there to help you draw cards and be fodder for Flaversham once you are able to play him.

Having eight of these cards in your deck makes it relatively likely you are going to find it on your first turn, and it also makes piloting this deck easier. You don’t need to juggle multiple options early on: just find one of these one cost cards and play it. It’s that simple.

Turn two: enter the Smee

Mr. Smee is a very strong card given he’s a two-cost character, has three strength, three will power, and two lore. That’s a pretty well-rounded character, and his only drawback is the fact that he takes damage when he doesn’t have a Captain charcter in play. Luckily, this rendition of the deck does run a Captain Hook character, meaning you can help your Smee stay alive at the part a little longer.

Mr. Smee – Bumbling Mate

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While Smee may be a strong character to play as early as your second turn, there’s another card that’s arguably more effective, and that is Tipo – Growing Boy. Tipo is greatly preferable over the One Jump Ahead song Sapphire/Steel used to run given its Inkability, freeing up key uninkable slots in your deck for other powerful cards.

While Tipo does force you to Ink from your hand as opposed to the more preferable off the top of your deck option, given the powerful draw support in Sapphire/Steel, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

If you manage to hit play Tippo, you can even start playing your four-cost characters the following turn like Flaversham.

Turn three: ramp

Turns one and two are about getting setup. Turn three is a great opportunity for Ink acceleration.

As this deck is focused on ramping up your resources via Sapphire’s unique extra Inking options, you really don’t need to worry too much about questing early on. The thing that’s really cool, however, is if you’ve played your cards right, you will have some solid options for turn three.

Your strongest option is going to be getting Fishbone Quill into play, as that will help you accelerate your ramping capabilities even faster. Cards Inked via Fishbone Quill aren’t exerted so you can still use them to pay costs that very turn.

Fishbone Quill – Item

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Sapphire/Steel deck – key cards

Cogsworth – Grandfather Clock adds much needed resist

Cogsworth – Grandfather Clock

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As a card, five-cost Cogsworth has a lot going for it. It’s got Ward, which is always a handy keyword ability. But even more importantly, it has the unparalleled Unwind ability, granting Resist +1 to all of your characters.

This helps make your characters much less likely to be taken out in challenges, or to be banished by songs and actions that deal damage.

Watch out though – Cogsworth doesn’t have resist himself, meaning you are likely going to want to leave him readied so that your opponent’s can only take him out with a Be Prepared or by spamming Grab Your Sword and Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy.

All that to say Cogsworth isn’t invulnerable, but he’s definitely a challenge to banish for your opponent, and makes your board a lot safer just having him around.

Spread the damage with Tinker Belle and Grab Your Sword

Of course, no Steel deck would be worth its merit if it didn’t run a plethora of damage inducing cards. This one focuses on using Grab Your Sword to spread the damage across the board, devastating aggro decks and causing a lot of trouble for most characters. If that weren’t enough, you can also up your damage output by playing a Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy. She not only dishes out an extra damage when she is played to all opposing characters, she also does additional damage when she banishes opposing characters in a challenge.

Grab Your Sword pairs very well with Tinker Bell – Giant Fairy which similarly dishes out one damage to each opposing character. Get both off in a turn and you’re looking at three damage to each opposing character. To make it even better, Tinker Bell does additional damage whenever she banishes a character in a challenge.

Win the battle of locations with Kuzco and Along Came Zeus

While spreading damage across characters is great, it’s not the only threat in the current Lorcana format. Of course, there are plenty powerful locations and even items you are going to need to deal with. To help, you have several versatile songs and actions.

First, “And Along Came Zeus” is the Swiss Army Knife of songs, letting you take out troublesome characters and locations as needs arise. What’s even better than weakening Locations, however, is getting rid of them entirely. That’s why Kuzco is included in this deck. Newly released in Shimmering Skies, Kuzco can be used to send one Location or Item into their player’s Inkwell.

Belle with Lucky Dime is deadly

While Sapphire/Steel had a strong combo before Shimmering Skies in the shape of Ariel and Lucky Dime, arguably the best way to take advantage of the handy Lucky Dime card is to pair it with Belle – Strange But Special. Belle gives you powerful ramping capabilities that’s pretty much unparalleled in the game to this day, while also pairing well with the Dime.

Once you get ten cards in your Inkwell her lore value goes up, making her an ideal target for Lucky Dime. At any point of the game, however, her “Read a Book” ability can be a huge advantage and let you reach insane levels of ramp.

Save your board with Pete – Referee

Before getting into this deck’s endgame (as if Belle weren’t enough), we should mention a new card that’s going to really help Sapphire/Steel out moving forward. That card is Pete, and he’s a godsend for Sapphire/Steel, helping it fair better against just about every other deck out there, but especially against Ruby decks.

One huge problem for Sapphire/Steel players was playing against decks like Ruby/Sapphire Control that could eradicate the hard work they put into building up a solid wall of defense behind which they could race to twenty lore.

Pete helps buy you time, however, by preventing your opponent from playing actions for an entire turn.

The Tomatoa endgame

Last but not least, Tomatoa is a powerful character in this deck. He lets you replay items, gains lore equal to the number of lore in play, and is one seriously beefy character. While he’s relatively tough to get out, he’s going to be your late game questing threat. Many games are won thanks to Tomatoa combined with Lucky Dime.

Sapphire/Steel Matchup Guide

Sapphire/Steel has made a massive resurgence in popularity in the meta thanks to its favorable matchup mainly against the most played deck right now: Steelsong. There are many reasons why this deck is favorable against that particular one, but the most prominent reasons are thanks to the fact that Cogsworth is the strongest counter against Steel in general.

Its worst matchup is against Ruby/Sapphire. Ruby/Sapphire has similarly powerful draw support but doesn’t care if you damage its characters for the most part. However, the newly released Pete – Referee character card can help. Play it before your opponent can dash the field with Be Prepared or other powerful actions and songs.

The most even matchup is against Ruby/Amethyst. While Ruby/Amethyst probably has the advantage realistically in that matchup, it’s not by a lot and a strong Sapphire/Steel player can certainly overcome Ruby/Amethyst’s tools either by gaining more cards in hand through superior draw support, or discarding that deck’s key cards via A Whole New World.

Sapphire/Steel has solidified itself as a top Lorcana meta deck

However you play Sapphire/Steel, this deck has massive potential, and it is arguably stronger than ever in the current Lorcana meta, with answers to many situations and a proven track record of absolutely dominating tournaments. If you are looking for a well balanced deck that performs well in the majority of matchups, Sapphire/Steel is the deck you are looking for.

Lorcana Sapphire/Steel Ramp Deck List and Guide

Colors

Card Types

Inkable